Goodbye VPNs, Hello Cloud-Delivered Zero Trust

Legacy VPNs solved yesterday’s problems. CSE is built for the modern workforce and tomorrow’s threats. 

Remote Access Has Changed. Has Your Security?

For years, when someone asked, “How do we provide secure remote access?” the answer was simple: a VPN. And for a time, it was close to perfect. VPNs are familiar. Functional. Sometimes even free — at least until you need the premium features.

But all good things age. My Xbox 360 lasted more than a decade. I never even saw the infamous red ring of death. But when your network security hits its own version of the red ring? The consequences are far more serious. A VPN failure isn’t just an inconvenience like a broken game console. It’s exposed data. It’s lateral movement. It’s an open door for attackers. And in today’s hybrid, remote, cloud-first environment, the risks are simply too high to rely on technology designed for a very different era. 

And at the same time, modern organizations and their IT teams are under pressure to do more with less. In the current economic environment, that means fewer tools, fewer resources, simpler deployments and clearer visibility into what’s happening across users and devices without breaking the bank. With this in mind, Zero Trust is no longer something you should be aspiring towards—it’s something you need. 

Transitioning from VPNs to Zero Trust shouldn’t be hard. That principle continues to drive the design of SonicWall’s Cloud Secure Edge (CSE). We built CSE on a simple idea: Zero Trust should be easy to adopt, secure by default and straightforward to understand.

So What’s New with CSE?

Simplified Access

Getting started with Zero Trust shouldn’t require weeks of configuration or fragile integrations. With this release, CSE reduces onboarding friction by meeting customers where they are today.

• Microsoft Entra ID Auto-Configuration reduces manual steps and configuration errors when setting up your IdP
• Windows on ARM Support for consistent access with more devices

The result: faster deployments, fewer misconfigurations, and a smoother path off legacy VPNs.

Strengthened Security

Legacy VPNs often create a false sense of security. They provide broad access, limited context, and a slow response to modern threats. CSE strengthens security by applying Zero Trust principles with practical controls IT teams can easily use.

• Device Geolocation Trust Factor for country-specific blocking decisions
• Explicit URL Blocking for precise internet access control
• Generative AI Category to quickly manage access to GenAI sites

These capabilities help organizations reduce risk without additional complexity.

Improved Visibility

True security depends on visibility. Unlike many legacy solutions with limited logging and reporting,  the latest CSE release includes insights into historical access activity and firewall connections to support audits, investigations, and faster troubleshooting. 

• 12-month SIA Access Logging for audits, investigations, and access trend analysis
• Firewall Visibility in CSE to confirm firewall connectivity to CSE

Better visibility means faster answers, stronger compliance, and more evident proof of value.

Why This Matters Now

Despite growing awareness of Zero Trust, many organizations remain anchored to legacy VPNs, sometimes due to cost concerns, sometimes because of comfort, and often because change feels risky.

With Cloud Secure Edge and Zero Trust, you can gain:

• Simpler onboarding through identity automation
• Stronger, integrated security with customized security
• Clear, actionable visibility for both IT teams and partners

Modern Access, Built for the Way Work Happens Now

Cloud Secure Edge is designed for organizations of all sizes that want to move beyond legacy VPNs without adding complexity. CSE brings cloud-delivered Zero Trust access and Internet Threat Protection that is simple to deploy, strong by default and easy to analyze.

CSE makes it even easier for partners to deliver value and for customers to modernize secure access confidently, efficiently and at scale.

Try a Guided Tour of CSE Today